Gory Detail

In an interview with Nintendo Life, The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup creator Chris Seaver of Gory Detail has stated that development of the Wii U version of the puzzle platformer has stopped for now. Instead, the focus lies on the PC version at the moment – however, as soon as Gory Detail get their hands on a Switch developer kit, they will work on porting the game to Nintendo’s newest system. Additionally, Seaver stated that a release of the 3DS version is “dependent on resources and time issues”.

Here are his statements in full:

“We’re looking to have everything done on the PC side by September or so, the Nintendo Switch side of things depends on when dev kits become available. As you can imagine there’s a lot of people wanting them and I can’t imagine little indies like us are too high on the list. We’ll see.

I’d pretty much back-burnered the Wii U in terms of dev for a while now because of the cost to develop on something that was increasingly seen as a dead end system. Along comes the Switch, hopefully reinvigorating Nintendo’s home console market. It all dovetails nicely. Switch is pretty much a defo, just not sure when. 3DS is dependent on resources and time issues but currently a yes. Wii U, nah.”

Nintendo Life has published an article with new details about Rusty Pup, the new game from former rare developers Chris Seavor and Shawn Pile. We’ve rounded up the notable information below.

– Been in development for 3 years
– Opening levels serve as an introduction to the game’s dark storyline
– These levels also slowly drip feed the various mechanics you’ll need to master in order to overcome later challenges
– Can’t control Rusty directly
– Guide him around using lights
– Rusty is afraid of the dark, and will move towards the nearest source of illumination
– Laying platforms, powering lifts and using various chutes located around the stage come in later
– Get cube-like “brains” that are stored in Rusty’s gut before being banked at various toilets dotted around the game
– It’s only at this point that they enter your inventory
– Need brains to open certain doors
– One later level features a cloning tool which allows you to create more Rustys – expendable dopplegangers which allow you to collect hard-to-reach brains before being sacrificed
– Game is finished when it comes to assets, engine, and core mechanics
– Some of those are still being tweaked
– Dev wants it to be challenging, but doesn’t want to put players off
– Coming to Steam first, with the iPad version possibly coming later
– Dev considered abandoning the Wii U version, but decided to stick with it since Zelda will remain on the platform
– Seavor likes the 3DS version the most since it’s in 3D and very portable, plus you have buttons and the touch-screen
– Unclear when Rusty Pup will be on Wii U, 3DS, or possibly NX
– Versions are seeing staggered releases to cover costs
– Steam version will pay for the next version
– Companion novel planned
– Next game will be less risky: “I can’t reveal the title yet, but I will say that we might be taking advantage of the Conker name; the term ‘spiritual successor’ definitely applies here. We’re not doing a Conker game as such, but we can take advantage of the legacy.”

Rusty Pup, first announced for Wii U and 3DS in 2013, remains in the works. Gory Detail issued a new devlog today which shows quite a bit of footage from the game with commentary straight from the creators.

This is actually our first real look at Rusty Pup in about a year. The first devlog was published at around the same time in 2015.

Here’s today’s new video:

It’s unclear if Rusty Pup is still targeted for Wii U. Towards the end of the video, we do see a 3DS logo, but nothing for Nintendo’s console.

The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup has been in the works for about two years. However, it sounds like the project still has quite a bit of development remaining before it’s completed.

In an interview with Retro, Gory Detail’s Chris Seavor said that creation of Rusty Pup is going well. There’s currently a plan in place to have the title launch by the end of this year, though it may slip to 2016 “if the game is not ready”.

Seavor’s full comments are as follows:

It’s going really well at the moment. We’ve got all the major mechanics in place now and everything seems to work fine. As usual (due to my slightly erratic approach to design), lots of new and interesting ones also fell out during the process. It’s also looking lovely if I do say so myself, way beyond our initial expectations for the game, which I’ll be showing off some sneak peeks soon in our first, somewhat informal “dev diary” on the Gory Detail blog. Everyone should check that out.

I’ve learned a long time ago to try not to stick to deadlines. If you don’t have any deadlines, then you can’t miss them.

I’m being facetious, a little. We are heading for a release window by the end of this year, but if the game is not ready, then obviously we won’t release. Needless to say, every day we get something new done. A bug gets fixed and progress is being made.

I’m very excited about Rusty Pup. I think it’s got some interesting ideas, both in terms of narrative and how we’ve approached the traditional puzzle platformer genre. It won’t be for everyone, which is just fine, because if it was (if that’s even possible), then I’d have failed miserably as a designer.

There hasn’t been much to say about The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup in recent months. You could essentially say that the game went into hiding, and updates ceased for quite awhile.

But just last week, new updates landed on developer Gory Detail’s official Tumblr page. We now have a look at two brief clips, plus some art. In one drawing, it’s shown that Rusty’s original name was “Toc”.